Guardian Pilots
by ShadowStrikeUltimate
Summary: 4 young adults are chosen to wield the 4 Cardinal Spirits. There's just one twist. They're contained in mobile suits. This is the start for a young man named Kaden.(I'll change the description and cover with the introduction of each main character.) Thanks to kdash71 for giving me the inspiration from his amazing mobile suit customs to make this story.


**New one on Gundams! Love Gundams... Enjoy.**

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Enter, The Emerald Dragon of the East

_C.E. 70, Okinawa, Japan_

_A mother has just given birth to twins. The father walks into the room_

_"Look honey! Two boys! We made the two cutest little boys, didn't we?" _

_She handed one of the boys to the father. He had snow white hair and black eyes. The mother held the boy with black hair and green eyes. _

_"Haha, it's too bad only one of them looks like us, but this little one is still cute." _

_A Natural boy, and a 1st generation Coordinator. The little white haired boy was sound asleep. Out of nowhere, the black haired boy sneezed for the first time. He then began to cry. _

_"Sh sh shh. Calm down sweetie." _

_After 5 minutes of crying, the baby calmed down and fell asleep. _

_"What're we gonna name 'em honey?" _

_How about you pick the name of the one in my arms, and I, you?" _

_"Sounds good to me. Hmm. His name will be Ryoku." _

_"And the little cutie in your arms will be Makuso." _

_The mother had a thought. 'I hope they grow up to be even stronger than your father.' She smiled. _

_October 19th, C.E. 86, Earth Forces Nagasaki Base. Nagasaki, Japan_

A black haired young man sat at his desk in his room.

"Commander Itsikashi. Permission to enter."

"Granted."

A man older than he, with obviously a lower rank, stepped into his room and saluted.

The Commander stood up and returned the salute.

"State your business, Corporal."

"We have an order for you sir. All the way from the big guns upstairs."

The Corporal handed an envelope to him labeled as 'CLASSIFIED.'

"Thank you, Corporal. You are excused."

"Sir."

The two men saluted each other, and the Corporal left the room. Ryoku sat down at his desk and threw down the envelope.

His desk-computer alerted him that he had an unread message. He opened up his computer and the holographic touch-screen appeared. He tapped open the message.

_'This order is urgent, Commander Itsikashi. I hope you can understand. -Commander Kaden Goshinara, 103rd Mobile Suit Division, Earth Forces, California Base' _

Ryoku thought spitefully to himself.

'Jeez... That idiot just had to call me out today.'

Ryoku sighed as he reached for the envelope. He opened it.

"Orders to retrieve classified information? Why couldn't they have sent one of the lower ranks to do it?"

Suddenly, he felt angry.

"Those bastards... Sending me out to do their dirty work..."

He trudged down the corridors of the base, clenching the orders in his hand. He grumbled a string of curses under his breath as he burst into the main operation room.

"HEY! WHO'S BRIGHT IDEA WAS IT TO SEND ME OUT TO GO FETCH THE NEWSPAPER!?"

A very official looking, middle-aged man turned around from behind the operation board. He smiled cheerfully at the rambunctious young man that so rudely exploded into the room.

"Ah you must be Commander Itsikashi. I've heard many great things about you."

He stuck out his hand for a shake.

"I'm General Furai Nakaruma. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Ryoku's face was slightly in shock, mostly because his foot was still in the air from unnecessarily kicking in the door. He quickly put his foot down and straightened himself out.

"Ahem. Likewise, General Nakaruma. It's the highest honor."

They shook hands, and Ryoku formally asked what business he had here.

"Oh I'm here to personally receive the data you were supposed to retrieve."

Ryoku turned his head and cursed himself.

"W-well sir, I should probably get on that! For your sake of course."

"You sound panicked, my boy. Your rank isn't at stake, don't worry. If you wish not to do this, then it is possible to send someone else."

"No no sir, please! It would be an honor to do this for you. I'll leave right away."

"If you say so, Commander Ryoku. Best of luck."

The General saluted to him and he saluted back. Ryoku sharply turned to leave the room. He gloomily walked down the hall to the Mobile Suit hangar, hanging his head in disappointment.

The door opened to the 29th Mobile Suit Division's personal hangar.

A rough looking engineer was working on a mobile suit that looked like a Strike E variant. It had a large golden sword with a dragon on the blade and green gem-like implements on the guard.

"Hey Randy. How's the Dragon doing?"

The engineer threw an oil covered rag over his shoulder.

"That you, Ryoku?"

"Yea man. How's it going."

He walked over to Randy who high-fived him upon arrival at the foot of his mobile suit.

"We haven't seen you in a while. What're you here for?"

"Orders to retrieve some classified info. I'm taking Dragon out for a while."

"Alright. We got the specs done. Also, we made a new add-on pack for missions like this."

"Well equip it after I reformat myself with the Dragon's Spirit."

"Gotcha, bud."

He ran over to the ladder of the cockpit and hopped in. The cockpit closed and lit up inside. The boot-up sequence began as the lights in the Dragon Strike's eyes turned on. The AI screen inside the cockpit appeared as Ryoku flipped all the right switches and buttons.

An emerald dragon digitized on the screen and spoke.

"It's been too long, child. You are a Guardian. You must maintain this mobile suit yourself."

"Yeah, yeah. Now let's reformat and not keep General Nakaruma waiting any longer."

"A new mission?"

"Yes. Reconnaissance mission from the General himself."

"Right then. Shall we?"

"Let's begin."

A golden light flowed throughout the mobile suit and exploded out of the panels.

The suit began to move on its own, flexing its arms and moving its legs.

"Reformatting, complete. Drago-Sync, online. Manual controls, operational. Mental controls, operational."

"Everything's lookin' good. Alright, Randy. What's the new pack?"

Another screen appeared on the main monitor. Randy's face appeared on the screen with a smile.

"The Hero Striker Pack. It comes with an experimental beam deflector cape and some new armaments. We took the side skirt technology from the old Strike Freedom and implemented them here. Behind the waist, you now have 2 new medium output laser rifles that can be hidden along the legs. Where your Armor Schneiders once were, are now Shorty beam pistols. Since your new rifles take the place of your beam Muramasas and kama, we put them in your shoulder armor. Farthest out are your kama. The Muramasa handles are on the inner holsters. The shoulder thrusters are still functional, so don't worry about them."

"What about my custom Dragon Funnels?"

"We had to remove those because of the cape, but we're working on a way to make sure all of your armor is compatible. There's also a scabbard on your back for the main sword. It's also concealed by the cape, but you can still make smooth movements with it."

"Is that all?"

"Hmmm. That's all I can remember right now. You should head out. The informant's probably waiting." "Right."

All of the operators in the hangar were qualifying the launch sequence. Ryoku put on his helmet and readied himself for the propulsion launch. Randy's voice came through in the helmet.

"Ok, Ryoku, we're all clear."

"Got it! Commander Ryoku Itsikashi. Dragon Strike Hero! Heading out!"

The mobile suit posed in a shallow crouch and was propelled out of the hangar. The northern Japanese mountain range was moderately topped with snow as the Dragon Strike Hero made its way to the set coordinates. About halfway, a video message screen appeared inside the cockpit. Ryoku hit the button to answer, and Randy's face appeared.

"Ryoku. The sword also has a new function I just remembered."

"Well? What is it?"

"When you're in mental control, you can use special particles in the gem interface of the guard to jam signals, reveal cloaking devices, and unmask mobile suits."

"Unmask?"

"This is still very new technology. Basically, it can make a mobile suit look like a completely different one, as long as you have the right gear."

"That sounds pretty useful."

"It might be later. Look ahead. You're gonna miss the meeting point."

"Right. Thanks, Randy."

Randy did a small, two-finger salute and signed off. A conference signal appeared on the main cockpit screen. Ryoku opened up. There was only audio.

The voice said, "This is Ensign Ray Elz, of the 103rd Mobile Suit Division, California Base. Requesting recognition code of Commander Ryoku Itsikashi."

"This is Commander Ryoku Itsikashi, of the 29th Mobile Suit Division. Recognition code 945013G5O2A."

A small pause of silence fell through the cockpit. Ensign Elz's voice returned.

"Recognition code received. Sending exact coordinates. I'll see you in a short while, Commander Itsikashi."

Ensign Elz's voice signed off again. A loading bar appeared on the left screen of the cockpit. The Dragon's Spirit AI appeared on the opposite screen.

"I'll take us to the coordinates. You sit back and prepare for landing." "Thanks."

In about 15 minutes, they came across a narrow split between two small mountains. Ryoku landed the Dragon Strike on a flat surface inside the split. Hidden in the snow, was an Astray Red Frame Mobile Suit.

Ryoku grabbed his pistol and the mission envelope and opened his cockpit. The dismount rope deployed itself from the cockpit door. Ryoku grabbed it, and it lowered him down.

As soon as he hit the ground, he snapped into defensive mode. A man walked out from behind the Astray with his hands behind his head. He wasn't wearing a helmet, so his blonde hair blew slightly in the winter breeze.

Ryoku lowered his weapon and holstered it. He took off his own helmet and stuck out a hand.

"It's a pleasure, Ensign Elz."

The 2nd Lieutenant stuck out his own hand and shook it.

"No no, sir. The pleasure is all mine."

"So. I understand I've been sent here to retrieve some data."

"That is correct, Commander. This is straight from the desk of Commander Kaden Goshinara."

Ensign Elz reached into his pocket and pulled out 3 memory chips.

"These are a pretty old form of technology, but they're filled with top-secret military science data that we retrieved from a ZAFT base."

"I greatly appreciate you're coming all the way out here just to bring me this."

"It's an honor, sir."

"One question. Why didn't Kaden come out here himself? It isn't like him to send someone else to do his work. Especially a close comrade."

Ensign Elz looked away for a moment and refocused his gaze on the Ryoku.

"The Commander is dealing with some things with the higher-ups. He told me to tell you that he sends his deepest apologies."

"I see. Well, in any case, thank you. Send your Commander a punch in the face. Just tell him it's from me. He'll understand."

Commander Itsikashi grinned mischievously and turned around. He waved goodbye backwards and put on his pilot's helmet. He grabbed is dismount rope and raised himself into the cockpit. It closed and the Dragon Spirit returned.

"So? What happened."

"Everything went well. Let's head on home. I'll be taking the reins for now. You can relax, Dragon."

"Alright. Let's get there quick. The General's waiting."

"Right." The Dragon Strike Hero looked up, jumped, and flew. Sword in hand, it hastily flew towards the Nagasaki Base. In the distance, he saw smoke.

"Smoke...? What's going on... Did Randy screw up a new invention again?"

"That's not smoke from a regular explosion... RYOKU!"

"AHH WHAT!"

"Hurry back maximum speed! Mental controls online! Connecting mental interface! Initiating Soul Resonance!"

"Hold on Dragon!"

Suddenly, everything went black. Ryoku opened his eyes and looked down at his hands. They were robotic. His right hand held his mobile suit's blade. He stopped midflight.

"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?!"

"Calm down. The base is under attack. Now HURRY YOUR ASS OVER THERE!" "AH! RIGHT!"

Within seconds, Ryoku was flying top speed towards the Nagasaki Base. He arrived a few minutes later, only to find the buildings shrouded in flame and smoke.

"What the hell..." Ryoku started.

The Dragon Spirit appeared again.

"SLAUGHTER DAGGERS! 12 OF THEM!"

From all directions, Lightning Slaughter Dagger type mobile suits surrounded Ryoku in the Dragon Strike Hero. He looked 360 degrees all around him. He sheathed his sword and reached to his lower back. His laser rifles were hidden along the backs of his legs. The cape was barely long enough to cover them.

"Damn..." He quickly grabbed them and brought them forth.

The second he did so, the Slaughter Daggers opened fire. Beams were flying as the Dragon Strike skillfully maneuvered in between the beams and through snow. Behind him, his cape was being pelted with beams, however, none of them made it through.

"This cape sure is helpful isn't it! I don't even have to worry about my back!"

In a short minute, Ryoku was firing his own rifles.

'These blasts aren't very accurate... I'll have to fine tune them later...'

The Dragon Spirit broke his concentration.

"ABOVE YOU!" Ryoku quickly looked up directly into the sun. He instinctively raised an arm to shield his eyes. Ryoku moved his forearm slightly to see a black dot falling towards him with incredible speed.

He dropped his rifles and reached for his beam Muramasas. He extended them to either side and pierced through the head units of the 2 remaining Slaughter Daggers. He looked up again, but the black dot was gone.

"Turn around and duck! NOW!" Ryoku quickly did as told.

As he ducked, he saw black and gray mobile suit legs with red feet.

"No way..."

He raised his head to see the Strike Noir staring down at him. It's Fragarach blades were crossed above him.

A voice transmission came through to the cockpit.

"Pilot of the Dragon Strike. My name is Sven Cal Bayan. I've come for your head."

The Strike Noir uncrossed its blades and brought them down vertically. Ryoku jumped back and resheathed his Muramasas. He quickly pulled his Dragon Sword from its scabbard and advanced. The first clash of the blades sent both mobile suits flying in the opposite direction. Ryoku bounced back quicker and advanced again. Ryoku was quick to attack, but the Strike Noir was just a little bit quicker. The tips of the Fragarach blades grazed the Dragon Strike as it dodged the slashes.

"WHAT THE HELL DO I DO?!" "DON'T YELL AT ME! Now just stay calm. Stay at a safe distance from it. If you stray too far, its grapples could get you. Get to close and those Fragarachs will slice you in half. Use the reach of your sword to your advantage."

"Got it... WOAH HOLY SHIT!"

The second that Ryoku lost focus, the Strike Noir had him pinned to the ground, swords crossed over Ryoku's.

"Great. Now we're pinned. Some Guardian Pilot you are..."

"Shut up, Dragon! We wouldn't be in this mess if you weren't yelling at me while I fight!"

"Fine, fine whatever! Just find us a way out of this!"

"I would if I could!"

Ryoku held on for half of a minute before thinking.

'Damn... This is bad.. What the hell can I do?'

Just then, an orange scimitar disk flew from his right side and cut off the left arm of the Strike Noir. It reared back and Ryoku saw his chance. He shoved off the remaining Fragarach blade from his own. While he was still laying on his back, he kicked the Strike Noir in the chest. It stumbled backwards as Ryoku sprung up into a battle position. The Dragon Spirit appeared again.

"Where did that scimitar come from?"

"That looked like a Suzaku Circle..."

Out of the thickening blizzard, a red mobile suit decked out in orange armor and weapons flew in. It threw it's 2nd scimitar like a boomerang in an attempt to cut off the Strike Noir's head. It turned around and ducked. A voice came through to the Dragon Strike.

"This is Ensign Elz, reporting for duty, sir!"

"Good to hear from you, Elz! You can explain why you're still here later! Let's finish off this clown!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

The Astray Red Frame pulled out its Gerbera Straight katana and prepared itself for close combat. The Strike Noir turned around and charged forward. It went for Elz's Astray Red, which he easily parried. The parry sent it stumbling backwards. It stopped and turned around. Ryoku was behind it, sword ready. He swung once and cut off the Strike Noir's remaining arm. He quickly followed with a decapitation. The Strike Noir ceased movement and collapsed.

"Thanks for the assist, Ensign."

"Not a problem, sir. But what is the Strike Noir doing here? The mobile suit was supposed to have been lost years ago."

"I'm wondering the same thing myself. Sven Cal Bayan has been M.I.A. for just as long. So maybe..."

Ryoku's hand instinctively went to his chin.

"What is it, Commander?"

"Stand back. I wanna try something."

The Astray Red Frame moved 3 paces back. Ryoku held out his sword.

'I'll try focusing my spirit energy into the blade. Maybe that'll activate the de-cloaker.'

Ryoku closed his eyes and focused. The gems on the sword's guard began to sparkle and glow. Soon, green particles began to flow out of the blade and onto the collapsed Strike Noir. The body of the fallen mobile suit began to spark with electricity. When Ryoku felt that he had done enough, he opened his eyes. What he saw was an Astray Noir type mobile suit. Elz spoke, shocked.

"What the hell..."

"That's an ORB mobile suit. What's it doing with Blue Cosmos mobile suits? This is very strange indeed..."

"What are we gonna do, sir?"

"For now, we have to look for survivors. I want you to stay here and keep watch."

The Dragon Strike's cockpit opened. "We'll keep in touch via com-watch. If I'm not back in 30 minutes, feel free to come look for me."

"Aye, sir."

Ryoku unlocked the sides of his cockpit chair. Emergency food, first aid and ammo packs were inside. He moved them all out of the way and grabbed one pistol from each compartment. He also slung a first aid bag over his shoulder. He loaded each pistol and dismounted from the cockpit.

"Dragon, keep watch with Elz for me."

Green lights in the Dragon Strike's eyes lit up.

"Sure thing. Don't die in there."

"Gotcha." Ryoku ran into the front building of the Nagasaki Base.

He checked all of the buildings with possible survivors.

'Last place is the Hangar...'

Ryoku's com-watch blinked. Ensign Elz was calling. He looked around for a corner to hide in. He found one and answered in a whisper.

"What is it, Elz?"

"Sir, parts of the building are on fire. It seems to be collapsing as we speak."

"I have one more place to check. I'll be at the hangar. Let Dragon keep watch alone. He can handle any immediate threats."

"Roger that. On my way, sir. Elz, out."

The call went to static before Ryoku hung up. He returned to his crouching-walk position and continued forward. He made his way to the entrance door and walked in. Right after, he heard a voice.

"Who's there!"

Behind some rubble, a man was pointing a gun at him. Ryoku recognized his voice. He put his hands up.

"It's ok Randy. It's me. I came to get you out of here."

"Oh thank GOD!"

Ryoku sheathed his pistols and ran over to where Randy was.

"Why can't you move?" As he turned the corner, Ryoku saw why.

Rubble was covering almost all of Randy's legs.

"As you can see, I've gotten myself in quite the predicament. Heheh..."

Randy cough and blood splattered on his sleeve.

"Shit... Well you can tell me all about while I get all this crap off you."

"Right. Well I was working on the funnel configuration like you asked, when we heard the alarms go off. Everything was chaotic. Somehow, I couldn't get out quick enough. A Slaughter Dagger's missile hit the ceiling, and it collapsed. 15 minutes later, here we are."

"Alright... Almost got it..."

"Ryoku behind you!"

Ryoku grabbed his pistols and spun around. A man in a blue and gray pilots' suit had a gun to his head.

"I wouldn't move if you don't wanna get hurt. And don't even try a little trick. I've got a buddy close by with his own means of ending you."

A few meters away, another pilot had a pistol with a sight and suppressor aimed at Ryoku's head. He felt another presence enter the room.

'Elz... You better stay hidden...'

"So what's it gonna be? Will you cooperate or will I have to use force?"

'I'm putting my life on the line trusting you, Elz...'

"I choose force. NOW, ELZ!" The man was startled.

"Who's Elz?!" A bullet whizzed past his head and into the head of the other pilot, some meters away.

He frantically looked around for another person, but only felt a sharp pain and heard a quick snap. That was Ryoku breaking his neck.

He put away his pistols and got back to work.

"Nice shootin, Elz."

"Thank you. I take pride in that."

Elz stared at Randy.

"We'll have time for introductions later. Help me get this off of him, Elz."

In more time than needed, the rubble was removed off of Randy's legs. Elz was instructed to go and retrieve the mobile suits and bring them back to the hangar. Elz did as such and he returned to Ryoku and Randy.

"What do we do now, sir?"

"Well first, let's get Randy into the extra cockpit of your Astray. Your priority is to keep out of harm's way."

"Why? Are we going somewhere?"

"Yea. Randy, get ready to get comfortable. It'll be a long trip to Cali."

"Why are going there?"

"Well let's see, Ensign Elz." There was a slight tone of annoyance in Ryoku's voice.

"My whole base has been reduced to rubble, and you haven't filed in your mission report. So going to _your_ base is _our_ only option."

"I see... I suppose you're right."

"Good. Now help me get Randy up there."

"Yes sir." Elz and Ryoku hoisted Randy up into the cockpit below the main cockpit of the Astray Red Frame.

When Randy was buckled up and comfortable, Ryoku ran to the Dragon Strike. He hopped in and the cockpit closed.

"Did anything suspicious happen while I was gone?"

"I intercepted some radio transmissions that I assume were for the invaders."

"Could you trace them?"

"No. Something was blocking my one-way signal. I was unable to trace the communication link."

"That's unfortunate..." Ryoku kept calm on the outside, but on the inside he was furious.

'Unfortunate for them... Whoever did this is gonna pay!'

He opened up a telecom channel with Elz's mobile suit and spoke very sternly.

"Come on Elz. We're leaving."

Elz replied. "Sir! Yes sir!"

The Dragon Strike Hero and the Suzaku Astray took off from the former, and still burning, Nagasaki Base. The journey ahead of them would be a long one, but Ryoku was bent on revenge. In the attack, many close friends of his were killed.

'I'll find whoever did this. And I'll kill them all...'

Ryoku had these thoughts as they flew off to the California Base.

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**Just to spoil some, my other characters will be making permanent cameos in this story. How about helping me with a new title? It's not too great right now, so leave some good reviews. This will only be a "pilot" so to speak (HILARIOUS PUN), so tell me if you want more.**


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